Hero
by numba1fangirl
Summary: Destiel AU. Dean is a cop and Cas is a superhero
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: I know the gang names are pretty cheesy, but when I looked up a list of actual gang names they were all just as cheesy or worse so I felt better about my name choices. Also, yes, Sam will be in this fic, but he's a lawyer, not a cop so he wasn't in this chapter._

* * *

Chapter 1

"Freeze! Put down the bag!" The robber took one look at Dean's gun and slowly lowered his bag to the floor before putting his hands in the air. "You're under arrest," Dean told him as he pulled the man's arms behind his back and slapped on a pair of cuffs. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you can't afford an attorney, one will be issued to you."

"How did you know I was here?" the guy asked as Dean escorted him out to his car. "The people who own this place aren't supposed to be home for another three days."

"Apparently you're not the only one who knew that," Charlie, Dean's partner, told him. "Somebody called in reporting some suspicious activity."

He grumbled something unintelligibly as Dean opened the door to the backseat and started shoving him inside.

"Yeah, yeah. Why don't you try exercising your right to remain silent?" Dean said. "It'd be a wise choice for you."

* * *

"Back already?" Chief Singer asked when they arrived at the station.

"It was an easy arrest," Dean answered.

"Yeah, no biggie," Charlie said.

"You didn't even do anything," Dean reminded her.

"It seemed like you had it covered. It didn't seem necessary to interfere."

"Well then I won't interfere with you doing the paperwork," Dean countered.

"Hey!"

"As your senior officer, I think you need the experience," he said with smug grin on his face. "Since you are so fresh out of the academy, I don't want to deprive you of this opportunity to learn."

"Fine," she said with a pout. "But only because you're my senior officer, so I can't really argue with you."

"That's the spirit."

_"We've got gunshots near the corner of 9th and Columbus. Possibly gang related."_ It was Ash's voice coming through the radio.

"Fuck," Dean said. "I bet it's those damn Demons again."

"This is exciting. I might finally get to see the infamous Downtown Demons and Uptown Angels duking it out," Charlie said.

"Don't get too excited. It's not like a trip to the candy store. This is dangerous stuff."

Charlie rolled her eyes. "If I didn't think dangerous things were exciting then I would never have become a police officer. Now let's go."

They arrived on the scene just as Ash and Pamela were putting someone in their car. Dean recognized him as a member of the Uptown Angels which was surprising because it was usually the Demons who were the more violent ones.

"Fill us in," he told them.

"We heard gunshots about ten minutes ago, so I radioed it in and we went to investigate," Ash said. "Found this guy in that alley over there with a few minor knife wounds on his arms. Didn't see a gun though, so I'm willing to bet my mullet there's more of 'em lurking around here somewhere."

"Ten minutes is a long time," Dean pointed out. "They could've–" He was cut off by the sound of more gunshots.

"It's coming from up the street," Pamela said.

"Charlie, you stay here and babysit this one," Dean ordered. "Ash, Pamela, and I will go check this out."

"But–"

"No arguing."

"We're gonna need some backup on Columbus between 9th and 10th Avenue," Ash said into his radio as the three of them hurried down the street, guns drawn.

"You're in the wrong neighborhood," they heard someone say from around the corner. "Why don't you go back to where you came from and suck on your silver spoon?"

"Stop acting like you own the place. Midtown isn't your turf. This is neutral territory," a second voice said.

They crept up to the corner of the building and Dean peered around it while Ash and Pamela stood behind him. There were two men pointing guns at each other, each with a handful of guys standing behind them. Two bodies were already on the ground, lying in pools of blood. Dean recognized both of the gunmen. One was Crowley, leader of the Downtown Demons. He was a slippery one who always managed to evade arrest. The other was Raphael. He was the leader of the Uptown Angels and got away with a helluva lot just because his father was the mayor. And even if he wasn't, it would be hard to pin him on anything worse than vandalism because he usually made some member of his gang do all his dirty work.

They heard a car door close and turned around to see Ellen and Jody getting out of their squad car. Dean motioned for then to stay quiet and go around to the other side of the alley.

"It _was_ mutual territory, but now it's been claimed," Crowley said. "So I suggest you go back home to daddy before I put a bullet in that tiny little brain of yours."

Ellen and Jody were in position, so they had the two gangs surrounded. Dean nodded at each of them to make sure they were ready, then pointed his gun straight at Crowley.

"Freeze! Put your hands in the air! We've got you all surrounded!"

"It's the police!" some nameless Demon yelled before firing in Dean's general direction. Suddenly everybody was shooting and a full on firefight ensued. It was chaos with gang members running around trying to get out of the alley and bullets flying everywhere.

Trying not to let one of them get away, Dean stepped out from the cover of the building.

_BAM!_

He was shot square in the chest. His bulletproof vest saved him, but it still felt like someone had whacked him with a bat. Stumbling backwards, he stepped into the road. A horn honked, he saw headlights, and then–

He was flying. Still trying to recover from getting all the air knocked out of him when he was shot, he didn't even realize what was happening until he was set down on a nearby roof. He didn't get a very good look at the person carrying him because as soon as they set him down they flew away again. All he saw was a black mask, the bluest eyes he'd ever seen, and a pair of large, black, feathery wings.

Looking over the edge of the building, he watched as the winged man, dressed in all black, began to knock out the members of the two gangs one by one with just a touch of his hand. One tried to shoot him, but he put out his hand and the bullet stopped in mid-air.

Dean ran to the stairs and began to descend back down to the first floor. By the time he made it down there, however, the mysterious winged man was already gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Where'd he go?" Dean demanded.

"You mean the guy with the wings?" Garth asked. "I don't know man; he just flew off somewhere."

"When did you get here?" Dean asked, noticing Garth and Jo for the first time.

"We showed up just in time to see you get shot and then that winged guy carried you off," Jo said.

"Looked like some sort of vigilante to me," Ash said. "What I wanna know is how he made those wings. They looked pretty real."

"You're stuck on the wings?" Dean said. "I'm more concerned with how he stopped a fucking bullet in midair."

"That too."

"Never mind that right now," Ellen told them. "Let's just get these boys to the station."

When they'd arrived, there'd been eleven gangsters and two dead bodies. Now there were five dead bodies and four unconscious gangsters. The rest, including both the leaders, had escaped at some point during the shooting.

And Dean wasn't the only cop who'd been shot. Jody was nursing a wound on her arm where a bullet had grazed her and Jo was being supported by Garth because she'd been shot in the foot.

"Alright, somebody drive those two to the hospital," Dean said, gesturing to Jo and Jody. "The rest of you, help me get these guys into squad cars," he continued, hoisting up one of the unconscious gangsters and throwing him over his shoulder.

* * *

"Are Jo and Jody going to be okay?" asked Kevin, the department's head secretary, when they arrived back at the station.

"Yeah, it was nothing too serious. They just need a little patching up," Ellen said.

"I still can't believe I missed all the action," Charlie pouted. "A vigilante? With wings? Are you kidding me?"

"Everyone who was at the shooting, get in my office now," Chief Singer demanded, interrupting their chat in the hallway.

"Uh oh, sounds like we're in trouble," said Garth as they all shuffled into the office.

"Close the door," the chief growled. Dean obediently shut the door behind him. "Now I want you all to tell me what the hell happened at that shooting."

"Officer Barnes and I heard gunshots, so we radioed it in," Ash said. "Winchester and Bradbury were the first ones to show up."

"When we got there, they already had one guy in custody," Dean said, "but then we heard more gunshots, so we left Officer Bradbury with the one we already had and went to investigate. Crowley and Raphael were having a standoff with a handful of goons each. Mills and Harvelle senior arrived right about then."

"The gunmen were all in an alley, so Officer Mills and I covered one end while the other three covered the other side, so we could surround them," Ellen said, taking over. "Winchester announced our presence and told them to put down their weapons, but instead one of them shot at him. All hell broke loose as they all started shooting and trying to escape. Mills got shot in the arm and then Winchester got shot in the chest and stumbled into the street and that's when someone with wings came down out of the sky and scooped him up."

"That's when Jo and I showed up," Garth said. "The guy came swooping back down after carrying Dean off and knocked out the rest of the gangsters with a touch of his hand and stopped a bullet in midair. Then he just flew off again."

"Did any of you get a good look at this guy?" Singer asked. "How about you, Winchester?"

Dean shook his head. "He was wearing a mask. He had blue eyes and black hair, but that's all I can tell you."

"Well at least we finally got those two bastards Crowley and Raphael on something substantial. But keep an eye out for this winged man. We don't know what his motive is. And even if he's just trying to do good, he could be a danger to himself or the community."

"Yes, sir."

"Did anybody get away during the fire fight?"

"Crowley, Raphael, and two of their gang members," Pamela said.

"Damn it. Ya idjits couldn't keep a hold of the two most important criminals at that shooting? Now we've got a man-hunt on our hands. Can't arrest someone if you can't catch 'em."

"Sorry, sir," they all mumbled.

"Now get out of my office and go do your jobs."

* * *

"Hey, Sammy! Fancy seeing you here!" Dean said the next day when he saw Sam at the station. Sam was a prosecuting lawyer who worked with the police on a lot of their high profile cases.

"Hey, Dean. So I heard about last night. How did it feel to be a damsel in distress rescued by a masked vigilante?"

"Ha ha, very funny. I'd like to see you get shot in the chest so you can see how it feels."

"Alright, alright. Don't get your panties in a twist. But seriously what happened last night? I heard that guy stopped a bullet in midair."

"Yeah, I would've thought it was just my imagination, but everyone else saw it too. It was some superhero level shit."

"Superheroes?" Sam repeated with disbelief. "You've been reading too many of Charlie's comics."

"I didn't say he was a superhero. I just meant he had superhero-like abilities that I can't explain."

"Yeah, okay Dean. Anyway, I'll see you around. I've got to get back to work."

"Yeah, see ya, Sammy."

* * *

_"Requesting back up at the Safeguard National Bank on 4__th__. There's an armed robbery in progress," _said a voice through the radio a few days later.

"Alright, come on, Charlie. Let's go," Dean said. They hopped into the car and turned the sirens and lights on as they sped to the bank.

_"This is now a hostage situation. We're calling in SWAT,"_ the radio continued.

Charlie and Dean arrived a few minutes later and got out of the car. The SWAT team was just arriving as well.

"Alright, fill us in," the head of the SWAT team said to Ellen who was the one who'd been radioing in everything that happened.

"There are two armed men inside wearing ski masks and they're holding hostage all the civilians who were inside the bank at the time," Ellen said. "They're staying away from windows as far as we can tell, but your snipers might be able to get a shot. So far no demands have been made and they didn't answer the phone when we tried calling in to the bank."

"Alright, I need men in position on those buildings and—" Suddenly a black figure flew over their heads. They looked up and saw the same masked figure who'd rescued Dean before. He flew around to the side of the bank and smashed through one of the windows. There were gunshots and screaming coming from inside.

"What the hell is he doing?" Ellen demanded. "He's endangering the lives of the hostages!"

The gunshots stopped and civilians began running out of the bank. A moment later, the winged man came out, carrying the two robbers who were both unconscious.

"You're welcome," he said, dumping them at the cops' feet. His voice was deep and powerful.

"Who are you?" Dean asked.

"A friend," was all he said and then he flew away again before they could say another word.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"WINGED VIGILANTE SAVES HOSTAGES" the newspaper headline read, underneath which there was a blurry picture of the winged man flying away from the bank where the armed robbery had occurred.

Dean shook his head. He and Charlie were parked on the side of the highway with a speed gun, waiting for the end of their shift. Charlie was taking her turn manning the speed gun while Dean checked out the paper. "The whole town's gonna turn this guy into some kind of superhero and it's just going to encourage copycats," he said.

"Ah let people have their fun," Charlie said. "It's the most exciting thing that's ever going to happen in this town."

"I just don't want anybody getting hurt," Dean replied.

"Yeah ok, I guess you're right," Charlie admitted begrudgingly. "Still I think he's doing more good than harm. He did save your life, you know."

"Yeah I know." Dean stared down at the picture on the front page, trying in vain to see if he could find any clues about the identity of the winged vigilante.

"Stop pining over the winged man and turn on the lights," Charlie told him, yanking the paper out of his hands. "That red Porsche was going 83 and it's only 55 here."

"I'm going, don't worry," he said, pulling onto the highway and flipping on the lights.

* * *

On his day off Dean headed downtown to buy Charlie a birthday present. He was thinking maybe a book or something. He knew she liked to read. After wandering around for a little while, he spotted a little bookshop on the corner. It was quaint and small and the dark blue door looked weathered and old, but it had character. The old sign above the door was forest green with gold lettering and read "Novak's Corner" with "Secondhand Books" underneath it in smaller letters. When Dean pushed the door open a little bell chimed over his head.

"Hello! Welcome to Novak's corner. Can I help you find anything?" the man behind the counter greeted him. He was looking down at the register as he spoke, putting away some money, but when he looked up he froze. Dean was silent as well, struck by how familiar the man seemed. He had black hair, blue eyes, and a deep voice. He was only an inch or two shorter than Dean and underneath the blue button-up shirt he was wearing were the subtle hints of a muscular build. He just couldn't figure out what was so familiar about him.

After several seconds of shocked staring, Dean cleared his throat. "Oh, uh, sorry. I just—have we met before?"

The man hesitated just a second too long.

"No, no I don't think so," he answered weakly.

"Are you sure? You look really familiar. I just can't put my finger on it."

"If we'd met before I'm sure I would've remembered you."

Dean scrutinized him for a second longer before deciding to drop it. "Ah, well, I guess you just have one of those faces."

"I guess so," the man agreed. He seemed a little nervous, so Dean had a feeling he was lying about knowing him, but he decided not to push it. It wasn't worth it.

"I'm Dean Winchester, by the way," he said, offering his hand to shake.

"Castiel Novak."

"Nice to meet you, Castiel. I'm looking for a gift for my friend Charlie. She really likes to read, so I'm just hoping to find a book she hasn't read before. Think you can help?"

"Of course. What type of books does she like?"

They then spent the rest of the afternoon going through shelves of books, Dean texting Charlie the whole time to get her opinion on things while she got increasingly more suspicious about why he was asking. After a few hours of looking, they were finally able to find a suitable book.

"Thank you so much, Cas," Dean said as Castiel rung up the book at the cash register. "I couldn't have done it without you."

"You're welcome. I hope she enjoys it."

"She better after all the trouble we went through to find it."

Cas laughed. "Take care, Dean."

"You too, Cas."

As Dean left the shop, a man pushed past him to get inside. Not liking the look of him, Dean caught the door just before it closed and watched from the crack as the man approached the counter. Straining his ears, he was just able to make out what the man said.

"Where is he hiding?"

"To whom are you referring?"

"Don't give me that shit; you know exactly who I'm talking about. Is he here? Are you keeping him in the back room?"

"I haven't spoken to Raphael in years."

_Raphael?_ Dean thought. What the hell had this sweet little bookstore owner gotten himself into?

"Bullshit," the man said.

"Just because he's my brother doesn't mean I keep tabs on him" Castiel told him. "I'm not my brother's keeper."

_Brother?_

"Well if you hear anything, Crowley wants to know."

"And if I do hear anything why would I possibly tell Crowley?"

"I can think of a pretty good reason." The man reached behind his back and Dean saw just the hint of a weapon. He'd been waiting to see how much the man would spill about the two gangs before going in, but now that he knew the man had a weapon there was no time to lose. Pulling his own gun out (thank God he never went anywhere without it even when he was off duty) he pushed through the door just as the man was drawing his weapon to point at Cas.

"Don't move." The man froze, weapon half-drawn. "Put down the gun." The man started to slowly bend his knees as if he was going to put the gun on the floor, but at the last second he fired off a shot at Dean—narrowly missing him—and made a beeline for the door, almost knocking Dean over in the process.

Dean was right on his heel as they ran down the street, weaving through the other people on the sidewalk. He pulled out his phone and called Chief Singer.

"Chief I'm in a foot pursuit on Edison, passing 8th and heading toward 7th. I need you to send me some back-up immediately."

"Send some back-up to Edison and 7th." Dean heard the chief bark at someone. "Winchester's in a foot pursuit."

"Yes sir," someone responded.

"Hey aren't you off duty? What the hell are you doing?"

"He has a gun. I'll explain the rest when we've got him." He hung up the phone and concentrated on not losing the guy. Just then a shadow passed over him and before he even had the time to glance up, the winged vigilante was landing in front of the armed man Dean was chasing. The man ran smack into him and fell on his butt, but before he could scramble away, the winged man picked him up by his shirt collar and snatched the gun out of his hand.

"I don't think you'll be needing that anymore," he said. He put two fingers to the man's head which somehow knocked him out. Then he set him on the ground in front of Dean. "I believe this belongs to you."

That voice…it couldn't be. Could it?

"You know I never got to thank you for saving my life," Dean said. "There has to be something I can do for you."

"There's no need."

He definitely recognized that voice. He'd just spent the last few hours with it.

"Your voice sounds familiar. Are you—" But the winged vigilante was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Dean waited impatiently in the interrogation room with Charlie, trying not to pace. After what seemed like ages, the door finally opened and in walked Castiel, escorted by a junior officer.

"Thanks for coming in, Cas," Dean said, reaching out to shake his hand.

"No problem," Cas replied, shaking Dean's hand and then taking Charlie's.

"Go ahead and have a seat," he said, gesturing to the chair across the table from him and seating himself in the chair next to Charlie. "You've already met me, but I guess I'll introduce myself again. I'm Officer Winchester and this is my partner Officer Bradbury."

"Pleased to meet you," Cas said, nodding his head at Charlie.

"As I'm sure you were told on the phone, we called you in here because you are a witness to the events that took place yesterday with the armed assailant at your shop and we'd like to get your statement," Dean continued. "We'd also like to ask you a few questions about the conversation you had with the man before he pulled out his gun."

"Ask anything you'd like," Cas said.

"Let's start with your witness statement. In your own words, can you tell us what happened at the shop yesterday?"

"Well, you, Officer Winchester, had just left the shop when the man came in and started questioning me about the whereabouts of my brother, Raphael. I told him I didn't know anything, so he threatened me and reached for his gun. That's when you came back in with your own gun and asked him to put his down. He fired a shot at you and ran out the door, so you chased him. I didn't follow, so I don't know what happened next."

Dean didn't miss the fact that Cas had excellent eye contact the whole time—right up until that last sentence.

"Do you know anything that might help us find Raphael?" Charlie asked. "He was involved in a shooting recently and now he's on the run. He's really dangerous, so anything you know that could help us bring him in would be greatly appreciated."

Cas sighed. "I haven't spoken to Raphael in years."

"You said you're brothers, right?" Dean asked. "Both of you are sons of Mayor Chuck Shurley?"

"Adopted sons, but yes," Cas answered, almost reluctantly.

"You don't sound too thrilled to be related to either of them. Is that why your last name is different?" Dean asked.

Cas nodded.

"Do you know anything about your brother that might be useful? Old habits? Old friends he might still be in touch with?"

"Well he's probably still in touch with our brother Michael who used to run the gang. He's in prison now, though, so he wouldn't be able to hide him, but that doesn't mean he can't give him suggestions."

"Well it's worth a shot to talk to him," Charlie said.

"Absolutely," Dean agreed.

* * *

Dean caught Cas by the elbow at the front doors of the police station as he was leaving.

"Hey, Cas, wait up."

Castiel looked down at Dean's hand on his arm before looking up at him quizzically. "Yes, Dean?"

Dean glanced around to make sure no one was within ear-shot before leaning in slightly and lowering his voice. "Off the record, I was just wondering, do you know anything about the winged vigilante?" Dean was 99% sure Cas _was_ the vigilante, but he needed to watch his reaction to this question before he could be 100%. Cas looked surprised and then avoided eye-contact like he'd done in the interrogation room.

"I can't tell you anything about the winged vigilante," he said.

"Are you sure?" Dean asked.

He pulled his arm away from Dean and stepped toward the doors, still avoiding eye contact. "I have to go."

Dean let him go, but he hadn't missed the fact that he'd said "I can't tell you" instead of "I don't know".

* * *

But of course when he voiced his suspicions to Sam, Charlie, and his best friend Benny when they all went out for drinks that night, they just laughed.

"You think that sweet little bookshop owner has an alternate ego as a winged vigilante that flies around the city fighting crime?" Sam asked with a chuckle.

"He's not little," Dean said defensively. "He just looks little to you because you're a giant."

"In the interrogation room, it seemed to me that he wanted nothing to do with his family. He certainly didn't seem like he wanted to fly around in spandex stopping them and others from doing crime," Charlie said.

"Well isn't he as likely as anyone?" Dean asked. "Really, could you imagine _anyone_ flying around the city in spandex? And if he's ashamed of his family, maybe he does this to get them off the streets so they'll stop embarrassing him."

"I guess you have a point there, brother," Benny said in his southern drawl. "But I still think you need a bit more proof than that. If being ashamed of your family is enough reason to suspect someone of being a superhero, then half the town should be a suspect."

"Fine, believe whatever you want. I still think it's him," Dean said, taking another swig of his beer.

The conversation moved on to other things, but Dean was distracted, still thinking about Cas and the vigilante. No matter what anybody else believed, he was _sure_ it was him. It was the only way to explain how odd Cas had acted when he'd brought up the vigilante and how the vigilante had acted when he'd said he recognized his voice. Which reminded him of the fact that they had the _same fucking voice_. Not to mention those piercing blue eyes and messy black hair like he'd just rolled out of bed. How could Cas not be the vigilante?

Sam stopped him as he was leaving. "Hey man, are you alright?" he asked. "You've been a little off all night."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Dean answered. "I just…I can't get that idea about Cas and the vigilante out of my head."

Sam shook his head in disbelief. "Why is this theory so important to you?"

Dean paused, not knowing how to answer that. "It just is," he said.

"Ok well, I'm just worried about you. You were shot recently, which can be really traumatic even if it didn't injure you, and now you're hell bent on finding out the identity of this vigilante."

"Don't worry, Sammy. I'm fine," Dean insisted.

"I sure hope so."

"Alright enough with the chick-flick moment. See ya later, bitch."

Sam smiled as Dean walked out the door. "Jerk."


	5. Chapter 5

"Why on Earth would I talk to you?" Michael asked when Dean and Charlie went to visit him in jail.

"Because it would be safer for your brother to be caught by us than by Crowley," Dean said. "And if you cooperate, we might be able to work out a deal to shorten your sentence."

"I don't betray family."

"Oh really? Because the way I understand it, you and your brother Lucifer have been at each other's throats for quite some time now."

"I didn't betray him; he betrayed me," Michael huffed. "It's true that I started the Uptown Angels, but it was never meant to be more than me and my siblings and a few cousins messing around and maybe committing a few petty crimes. It was never meant to be violent. But then Lucifer started getting aggressive with people and started turning the gang violent, so I kicked him out. He started the Downtown Demons in retaliation so of course it turned into a gang war and now here we both are."

"But now it's happening again," Charlie said. "The gangs are practically at war and your brother is right in the middle of it. Do you remember how many people got hurt or killed last time? Do you want that happening to Raphael or any of your other siblings that are still in the gang?"

"Of course I don't want that, but Raphael made his choice."

"Wouldn't you rather he ended up in here than in the morgue though?" Dean asked. "Listen, we won't mention where we got the information from. It'll be completely anonymous."

Michael seemed to consider that for a few moments. Finally he sighed. "Alright, fine. I give in. But I'll be straight with you: I haven't talked to Raphael in at least a year so my info might not be the best."

"That's alright; just tell us what you know," Dean said.

"There's a store down on Jefferson called Angelic Antiques that I used to use as a front when I ran the gang. My guess is that Raphael still uses it, but I can't be sure since I've been out of the loop for a few years now. That's all I can tell you."

"Thank you for cooperating. If your information is good, we'll make sure you get rewarded."

* * *

"This is it," Dean said as he and Charlie pulled up in front of Angelic Antiques. It was a little glass-front store in the middle of a string of shops with little angel statuettes sitting in the window. From the car, they could see a woman sitting behind the counter. Her brown hair was in a bun and she had a stern look on her face like she was going to give a lecture to the computer screen she was looking at.

"It looks like a store my grandma would shop at," Charlie said. "And with the glass front, it doesn't look nearly private enough for a gang hideout. And that woman behind the counter looks more like a business woman than a gangster. Are you sure we should look for the Uptown Angels here?"

"This is where Michael said they were," Dean insisted. "We have a warrant so it's worth it to at least look around."

"True."

They got out of the car and headed into the shop. The woman looked up from the computer screen and smiled.

"Welcome to Angelic Antiques. My name is Naomi. How can I help you?" she said.

"We've got a warrant to search the place," Dean said, pulling the warrant out of his pocket and showing it to her.

"I see," she said, her smile seeming a bit more forced than before. "Well search all you like; this is just a humble little antique shop."

"Maybe, maybe not. That's what we're here to find out," said Dean.

"So where do we start?" Charlie asked, examining a white porcelain tea cup with little silver wings printed on it.

"Put that down and get over here," Dean barked. Charlie rolled her eyes, but did as she was told.

"What are we even looking for? This place looks totally normal to me," Charlie said.

"That's because it is," Naomi insisted. "I'm not sure what you're expecting to find, but you won't find it. This is a perfectly legitimate business. I have all the paperwork if you'd like to see."

"That won't be necessary," Dean told her, then gestured towards Charlie to come closer and lowered his voice so only she could hear. "So I'm thinking that there's probably some sort of secret door in one of these walls—or maybe even in the floor—that leads to a second room which is where the actual hideout is."

"And where do you think this secret door is, genius? The walls are covered in shelves and the floors are covered in rugs."

"Which are perfect for hiding secret doors."

"Good point."

"I'll start searching the walls and you start looking under rugs," Dean said.

"I'm on it."

They began to search while Naomi sat behind the counter looking a bit uncomfortable. After several minutes of Dean picking up random things off the shelf hoping to find a secret lever, Charlie let out a surprised gasp behind him.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I think I found it," Charlie told him. She was pointing to a trap door in the floor in the back corner of the shop that had previously been covered by a thick ornate rug.

"Good work, Officer Bradbury," Dean said with a grin. "Radio for back-up."

"You're calling for back-up over a trap door in the floor?" Naomi asked with disbelief. "That's just my cellar. I use it for storage. What are you expecting to find down there?"

"Ma'am, we have reason to believe that a violent gang is using this place as a hideout, so of course we are going to call for back-up when we find a mysterious trap door hidden under a rug," Dean told her.

"This is unconstitutional."

"Ma'am, we have a warrant that gives us the right to search this entire store."

"Garth Fitzgerald IV reporting for duty!" Dean, Charlie, and Naomi all turned to see Garth and Jo standing in the doorway.

"That was quick," Charlie said.

"We were in the neighborhood," Jo answered.

"Well we have reason to believe this is where the Uptown Angels have been hiding out and we found a trap door in the floor over there. We were waiting for back-up before taking a look inside," Dean said.

"The Angels hiding out in an angel-themed antique store?" Jo clarified. "Seems a bit ironic, don't you think?"

"Irony is their whole thing," Dean pointed out. "Have you ever thought about how they're a gang of criminals known as the Angels?"

"I see your point."

"Alright let's crack open this trap door and see what kind of crazy pops out," Garth said.

They drew their guns and walked over to the trap door. Dean opened it up, revealing a dark staircase underneath. He looked at his fellow officers to see if they were ready and they each gave him a small nod. Together, they began to descend.


	6. Chapter 6

With their guns at the ready and flashlights illuminating their way, the four officers descended the staircase. When they reached the bottom, they all stood back to back, illuminating the entire room. Carefully shining their flashlights into every dark corner, they were soon satisfied that no one was down there and lowered their weapons.

"Alright, we need to look for evidence that the Angels have been hiding out in here," Dean said. "Somebody find the light switch and let's get searching."

Garth found a pull chain on the ceiling and turned on the light. The room was the same size as the one above it and just as filled with shelves. Only instead of antique angel merchandise, the shelves were filled with guns, knives, drugs, and several hundred cans of food. There was a safe in the corner and a table in the middle of the room that was covered in papers. There was a sink, a toilet, and a urinal on one wall and a mini-fridge and a microwave in another one of the corners. A cardboard box on the floor was open, revealing a bunch of blue bandanas—the signature color of the Angels. In the last corner was a gas furnace.

"Guess we don't need to look that hard for evidence," Charlie said.

"You can say that again," Jo agreed.

Dean went to examine the papers on the table. Some of them were the plans for various buildings, one was a map of the town with the territories of both gangs clearly marked, a few were bills for the shop, and one was a very interesting letter addressed to Raphael from one of the mayor's other sons, Gabriel.

"Hey, look at this," Dean said. The others gathered round as he read the letter out loud.

_My dear, sweet, naïve, older brother, Raphael,_

_ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND?! Why the fuck do you think it's a good idea to continue what Michael and Lucifer started? Do you remember how many people got hurt last time? Do you remember how many siblings and cousins we lost last time? You almost died!_ I _almost died! And I know Dad adopted a lot of kids, so we have a lot of siblings (like a LOT of siblings), but that doesn't make them expendable!_

_Michael and Lucifer were fighting to spite each other. Now they're both in prison. What are YOU fighting for? To take revenge on Lucy's best pal Crowley? SO WHAT IF HE STOLE YOUR BOYFRIEND. IT ISN'T WORTH IT BUDDY._

_And I know, I'm one to talk, right? I was in the gang, too, in the beginning. I spray painted my fair share of buildings, pulled my fair share of dumb, property-damaging pranks. But now we're talking about violence. MURDER. This is a whole new level of shit and you need to get out right now._

_How are you expecting this to end? What do expect to get out of it? A lifetime in prison? Because that's where you're headed._

_I know I wasn't able to convince Michael and Lucifer to stop the bloodbath, but maybe I can convince you. So please, for the love of God, _stop_. If you don't, I'm gonna have to come down to your little antique shop and kick your ass myself._

_With love,_

_The smartest and best of all the siblings, Gabriel_

_P.S. Please burn this letter after reading because I don't want to be associated with you until after you've stopped this nonsense, thanks._

_P.P.S Please don't tell Castiel I sent you this because I promised him I'd stay out of it._

"It's dated two months ago," Dean said.

"So I guess Raphael didn't burn it after reading, then," Garth observed.

"Yeah, no shit," Jo said. "We need to contact Gabriel. I bet he knows more about these gang wars than what's written in this letter."

* * *

"How can there be nothing on this guy?" Dean growled with frustration. He and Charlie had gotten a description of Gabriel from the Mayor and then scoured the police database for hours looking for anyone named Gabriel—with any last name—who fit the description. They found absolutely nothing.

"I know right?" Charlie agreed. "Mayor Shurley said that he's been arrested before so there should be _something_. Somebody must've hacked it and erased the files."

"You're telling me somebody hacked the police database?" Dean asked in disbelief. "Come on, Charlie, don't you think that's a little farfetched?"

"Not really. I do have experience with this kind of thing, by the way, so I can try to trace it back to the computer that did the hacking. In the meantime, though, you might want to go and talk to Castiel. That letter implied that he and Gabriel are still close, so maybe he knows where he is."

* * *

The bell chimed over Dean's head as he walked into Novak's Corner in his uniform.

"Coming!" a voice called from somewhere amongst the shelves. Dean was disappointed to note that the voice did not belong to Castiel. A few seconds later, a short man with golden brown hair came out from behind one of the shelves. He had a sucker in his mouth and a nametag on his shirt that said "Hello, my name is: LOKI".

"Hello, Officer!" he said cheerily, removing the sucker from his mouth to do so. "What can I do for you?"

"My name is Officer Dean Winchester. I came here to ask Castiel Novak about the whereabouts of his brother, Gabriel Shurley," Dean answered. "But I'm pretty sure I'm looking right at him."

The man looked over his shoulder as if checking to see if there was somebody behind him. Then he turned back to Dean with surprise on his face.

"Me?" he asked, pointing to himself. Dean nodded. "Sorry, Officer, but you have the wrong man."

"Do I?" Dean asked skeptically. "Because you sure do fit his description."

"That may be true, but my name is clearly Loki," he said, gesturing to his nametag. "There is no one by the name of Gabriel in this shop."

Just as he finished talking, Cas came walking down one of the rows of shelves. "Hey, Gabriel, do you know where I put the—Oh, hello, Dean."

Dean turned to the short man with a smug smile on his face. "You were saying?"


End file.
